Asia report: Markets mostly lower as Korea nuclear threat remains

Markets in Asia were mostly lower on Wednesday, following an overnight decline in the US as concerns remained over ongoing tensions on the Korean peninsula.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was down 0.14% at 19,357.97, as the safe-haven yen weakened 0.06% against the dollar to last trade at JPY 108.87.

The ongoing circus that is the sale of Toshiba’s valuable memory chip unit was once again in focus in Tokyo, as US memory giant Western Digital offered to depart a consortium in talks to buy the division.

As an alternative, Western Digital would increase its position in its current manufacturing joint venture with Toshiba.

Shares in the Japanese technology conglomerate finished 4.81% ahead.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite bucked the regional trend and finished 0.05% above the line at 3,385.88, and the smaller, technology-heavy Shenzhen Composite was ahead 0.38% at 1,979.53.

South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.29% at 2,319.82, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 0.46% to 27,613.76.

In Seoul, carmakers and steel manufacturers bore the brunt of the losses, with Kia Motors falling 3.67%, while Hyundai Steel was off 2.63% and Posco slid 2.19%.

Geopolitical tensions around North Korea were still at the fore of many traders’ minds, as a diplomat representing Pyongyang threatened the US with ‘gift packages’, understood to mean intercontinental ballistic missiles which the country is believed to be developing.

South Korean officials have also said they believe further nuclear tests are likely, following North Korea’s large underground test on Sunday.

The heightened tensions were not helped by US President Donald Trump, who had tweeted on Tuesday that he was prepared to allow both South Korea and Japan purchase “substantially” more US-made weaponry.

Oil prices were ahead during late Asian trading, with Brent crude last up 1.35% at $54.11 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate adding 0.84% to $49.07.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 ended the session down 0.29% at 5,689.73, led lower by the hefty financials subindex, which was off 1.19%.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 added 0.2% to close at 7,790.21, led higher by subscription broadcaster Sky - unrelated to its London-listed namesake - which was ahead 4.6% after hitting 18-year lows earlier in the week.

The down under dollars were both weaker on the greenback, with the Aussie last off 0.34% at AUD 1.2548 and the Kiwi retreating 0.29% to NZD 1.3863.